Budget Car Rental — Local services in Erlanger

I’d leave 0 stars if possible! We rent vehicles from CVG Avis/Budget regularly. It’s usually not the smoothest process, but we make do. Today was beyond insanity! The 1st car they tried to offer us smelled like cigar smoke/weed & the front bumper wasn’t attached all the way, 2nd vehicle was covered in some mysterious substance…the headrests were smothered in it, make-up all over back seats & even door handles were too sticky to open (I got pics). Mind you, during this process the lady on the lot who is supposed to provide CUSTOMER SUPPORT did absolutely NOTHING! We tried asking her not once, but twice for assistance with switching out vehicles. She couldn’t have been more rude & had NO desire to offer ‘customer support’. She yelled @ us the 1st 2 times there were issues with the vehicles & simply shouted she had “nothing but a 12 passenger van & pickup truck” - we knew she wasn’t being honest as when we went back up stairs after vehicle 1 was sub par, they suggested the 2nd vehicle (that too was sub par & ended up being covered in some mysterious substance), after we went back inside the 3rd time (& after she yelled @ us again there were no vehicles except a 12 passenger van & pickup truck) we were supposed to be put in an SUV, a manager named Stephanie was called by someone @ the desk upstairs; the manager told the employee upstairs she’d let the rude/unhelpful/outright awful employee on the car lot (her name is Trish) know to assist us in getting into the SUV, we relayed this information to Trish, she then claimed the employee who said the manager named Stephanie would be handling/helping with the the situation was a LIAR! Totally mind blown @ this point. She then slammed the window shut. Opened it again briefly, YELLED & said no SUV was available & slammed the window shut again! Mind you, we’re often in town for the exact same reason, my son has had over 100 operations in Cincy. He has another tomorrow so this heinous situation was the last thing any of us needed to experience! We went back upstairs to Budget/Avis & were told again we’d be put in yet another vehicle! I did have the opportunity to speak to the manager Stephanie via the cell phone of the employee who had been helping us upstairs (NOT the employee Trish who works on the actual lot). Stephanie was a sorry excuse for a manager! She didn’t act much differently than Trish! Speaking to her was worthless! She actually even seemed to justify Trish’s actions! The employee upstairs who had been trying to get us into a vehicle for 2 HOURS, finally found 1 more. We were so desperate @ that point we went down to get in it & go, as my son has surgery scheduled. We got in AND…the tire light was on! I asked 2 different employees if they could assist us to no avail. I KNEW better than to ask Trish! Honestly, she had proven beyond any doubt her only abilities were screaming, outright lying or calling others names & SLAMMING the window @ her station! Luckily, I found an employee working outside & he aired up all 4 tires. What a DISASTER! If you value your time or sanity & don’t want to be berated by Trish AVOID Budget/Avis @ this location! As mentioned, the manager Stephanie was absolutely useless as well, not so much as an apology for our crazy, hellish, way below subpar experience! She had nothing of value to offer...

I rented a car for one day through budget out of CVG airport. I’m doing this review because they shouldn’t get away with this lazy behavior. I may still try to report to the health department. I was alone on this trip and that’s one reason I sucked it up, but if I had my child I would not have put him in this vehicle.

When I arrived, I waited in line for 25 minutes, people in front of me were turned away with same day reservations because they had run out of vehicles (not just budget all the car vendors at CVG). So, I was happy to have my vehicle reserved the day before. They informed me all they had left were electric cars and I told them I was concerned because I have no idea how to plug in an electric car. The employee asked where I was driving, and I told him Louisville KY. He said oh you will have no need to charge it and if you have problems trade it at the Budget in Louisville (I called Louisville when I arrived, and they had no vehicles either). Long story short there was a need to charge and caused me additional time and stress because I had to locate a charging station and figure out how to charge. I do not want any electric vehicle rentals in the future. This was not the worst part of the experience. I get to the car, and it smelled so bad of cigarette smoke. I was in a hurry to get on the road, and I had just witnessed they were out of cars, so I left with the car. I did notice the door had a dent, so I snapped a picture before I left the lot. Once I was on the road in the car, I started to realize how dirty it was. It obviously was not vacuumed or even wiped clean. Something was stuck to the steering wheel and dash by the climate controls. There were crumbs and dirt on the floorboard, hair in the console area, substance stains on door handles and the visor. I was miserable my entire time in this car. After COVID and all the emphasis on sanitizing I’m surprised this is even legal. I felt like calling the health department when I returned (I was running late thanks to charging the stupid thing). I did inform Budget when I returned the car that they better do a detail clean on the car before renting again and the cigarette smoke smell was unbarable. They didn’t seem too concerned and even appeared as though I was really bugging them. Shame on...

Absolutely awful experience! My Dads flight did not land until 10:30 pm so he asked that I picked up his car early for him. My boyfriend dropped me off at 7 pm and the place was packed like sardines inside with people... definitely not Covid friendly... so I left because my pick up time stated 9 pm so I figured I would just go have dinner and come back during my scheduled time. When I came back it was still to my disappointment just as crowded - during Labor Day weekend they had one man working the counter that was not skilled enough to hold a solo shift. By the time they pulled up my car it was 10:45 pm... and it gets worse! I went outside assuming they would call my name or something... well I noticed the lady behind me getting into my car and by the time I noticed the license plate number she was already headed towards the gate. Turns out the guy at the gate didn't even check the paperwork and ended up letting her drive away with my car! So I went back into the crowded establishment and told the guy at the counter my car was taken. He then gave me a black mini van that wreaked of smoke! I was so tired at this point and they were running low on cars so I just told myself to get over it... well I get to the gate and I told the guy how he needs to check the paperwork and I said make sure this car is put under my name... well all the info was inputted incorrectly so I had to go back AGAIN. This point I am livid and I walk in and yell the guy up front in front of everyone to fix my paperwork ASAP. He snapped back at me and had the audacity to say well you should have checked the license plate before you got in the car... then I snapped back and said you should maybe just do your job correctly the first time. I ended up leaving and had to add my dad as a driver at a local budget in mason Ohio. The lady pulls up our paperwork and the name is still wrong! Some lady is driving around with my info and I have hers. She fixed it... we wasted an hour of our trip on Saturday. My Dad and I will never rent from budget again. Pay the extra money and go elsewhere. It's not worth the hassle during a vacation to deal with the incompetence...